Iarfhlaith Kelly - Code agus Craic

Twitter Perch is a new app that lets you automatically follow other Twitter folk that post about things you’re interested in. It’s a small app that was very simple to build and uses a combination of the Twitter API and the Twitter Search API to do it’s magic.

How To Use It

It’s really easy to use. Just enter your chosen keyword into the form on the homepage along with your Twitter username and password and Twitter Perch will then add new followers to your account every day, automatically growing your list.

The Rules

To put off spammers, we’re restricting the maximum number of new followers to 20 per day for each keyword. We’ll be carefully managing its use and will kick off anyone who abuses the service.

The Good News

We’ve also open sourced the code behind Twitter Perch so that others can run the service privately if they have security concerns or want to extend its features. The source code is hosted in a Google Code repository available here: http://code.google.com/p/twitterperch/

Best Intentions

I’ve launched this tool in the hope that it will be useful for businesses who want to track their brands and engage with people on Twitter. I think if it’s used properly then it will be a very useful extension of the Twitter Search features already available. However, if it’s used incorrectly it could reduce the value that Twitter provides to its users and potentially dilute the strong community bond that currently exists there.

So with that in mind, I urge people who want to try the service (online or on their own server) that they use it responsibly and in moderation.